• According to the historian Pasloineus, there were more gods in Athens than people! The Greek religion game was strong!  In 2011, the number of active cell phones in the US surpassed the population!  And that was in 2011!  When the iPhone 4 was all the craze!  I was thinking about this…cookies…you know the little things slipped to you when you visit websites…directional distinguishers used by industries to study the economy on the individual level.  How many of them are out there?    We have well exceeded Athens in our swamp…(I know, that illustration was crummy!  HA!  Well, sorry if you didn’t like it, I was just trying to bake your day…sweeten up your mood…)

Acts Chapter 17 Verse 23

• This worship without knowing…what a statement…almost confusing…it’s literally to “perform acts of piety with dull-full regard.” Goes hand in hand with them being a very religious  That is not Christianity!  We are not blindly worshipping.  It’s not about just doing what is right or paying obeisance to a perfect God.  It’s about knowing the truth and knowing Him personally!   Check this out, John 17:3, Jesus said, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent!”  Worship without knowing…isn’t worship at all…there’s no spirit in it, there’s no truth…
• “Yea we have a great marriage! My wife, she is so great!  We’ve been married for 20 years…can’t wait to meet her!”  HA!  What?  Doesn’t fit, does it?!  “He’s my best friend!  What a great guy!  Would do anything for anyone…give you the shirt right off his back…can’t wait to meet him!”  That sounds almost crazy doesn’t it!?  Well then why is that an acceptable way to walk with God!?  You see, religion…folks, the whole concept is just not reasonable…
• Paul stood at this altar to the unknown God and it took him back 20 years…this was the altar he used to spend all of his time at as a Pharisee…and it provoked him to preach with all of his power to these people…

Acts Chapter 17 Verses 24 – 26

• And so here is the gospel (continuing our discussion from last week)…God is both Creator and Redeemer! We are dependent beings …God however is entirely independent…does not dwell in buildings and is in need of nothing!  We are the ones in need!  The gospel proclaims these truths and delivers our need…grace!
• God created everything…(A story goes, a scientist once challenged God to a contest of who can make the better human being. God told him, “You’re on,” at which time the scientist bent over to pick up some dust to make his human being.  God said to him, “Hold on there, no no no…you go and find your own dust!”)  God created everything!  The world and everything in it AND He is the rightful and merciful Lord of it all!  Why merciful?  Because creation was perfect…created without blemish…God created it after all so it had to be perfect because all He does is good!  And as an element of His perfect goodness, He created in His sovereignty, free will.  And man used that free will to fall from perfection.  And yet God proved His goodness in that He redeemed His own creation…and became Lord even of the lost through His redemptive repayment for His own creation. 
• He is both Creator, and Redeemer and man folks, if we can get past the first 10 words of the Bible, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” then the rest of it all, even what you’re going through today, should be a non-issue in terms of believing God is entirely able… And in these statements is this truth, that Christianity is not a Sunday side of you!  It can’t be…if it is then religion is your bag man and idolatry is your weight…Christianity is a full on world view!! 

Acts Chapter 17 Verses 27 – 31

• Paul has gone from who God is (our Creator), to who we are (Creation), to our responsibility in light of that (to seek Him, to understand Him and worship Him in truth) and he has gone to our accountability if we do not (judgment). He only gets through his intro before he loses them…but he got to the gospel!  He assures what he has said with the fact of the resurrection!  And I want you to know this…the resurrection is the “system” to it all!  Powered up, made sound, made full, fully confident…fully secure…it is the power cord to the cross!

Acts Chapter 17 Verses 32 – 34

• So Paul departed from among them…He could have stayed and philosophized all day long…but when not able to talk any longer about Jesus, what’s the point? He makes his way to Corinth, having learned in Athens…

Acts Chapter 18 Verse 1

• Now the ancient city of Corinth was a most important city to Paul. His longest letter was the letter to the Romans, which many scholars believe he wrote while in Corinth…but…his longest writings were to Corinth.  He wrote a 16 chapter letter to Romans but to Corinth, we know of three letters, we have only two, and the chapter count between the two is 29! 
• You see Corinth was the Tortuga of Ancient times. It was gritty!  It was immoral.  It was tough…it was perfect for the gospel!  AND…it was a doorway of trade and in that a doorway to countless people and places!  From shore to shore…eastern shore to western shore…at places Corinth was only about 2 miles!  And so traders on their way from the east to Rome would always go through Corinth!  This place was messed up, filled with crazy debauchery and transients…to be called a Corinth meant you were a criminal or a hooker…but you know what…the light shines the brightest in the darkest of places!  Paul settles in and stays for quite a while!

Acts Chapter 18 Verses 2 – 3

• Paul worked!   I guess he wasn’t “full time” in ministry any longer!  HA…just kidding…but see how ridiculous that sounds!?  Christian, you saved?  You’re in full time ministry…fact.  You better believe Paul was sowing more than tents with these people…he was also sowing seeds.  Planting the seeds of truth in each conversation, interaction, attitude that he brought to work with him…and one would wonder, why did he work?  Well, he told us why and it’s all packed into 1 Corinthians 9 if you’d like to go and take a look…
• So should pastors work or should they take an income from the church? Yes!  Do whatever God has called you to do…both are fine…but…never ever WORK for the church.  You’re not here for the income and this is not your job…this is not your career.  This is why we have muzzled ministers and pansy preachers…because they are afraid of getting fired and losing their income.  Paul was controlled by no one except the Holy Spirit and if the church couldn’t or wouldn’t provide for his needs, it made no matter to him.

Acts Chapter 18 Verses 4 – 8

• Isn’t that interesting…what just happened?! Folks turned on him, rejected him, he walked away…and then the ruler, the top dog of the synagogue ends up getting saved?  Seems off, backwards…  Not so much.  Paul proved that he was selling nothing!  He wasn’t focused on “closing the deal.”  His focus was on sharing the truth.  Our responsibility as first-person witnesses to Jesus Christ…the truth and the power of the gospel…our job is to share the gospel of grace and truth. 
• We are not the converters…we are the sharers… We are able to share, we are inable to convert…that is God’s job!  And in the Great Commission is a hidden message.  Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  None of us can do any of those things without Jesus being with us…oh, except go…that, we can do…well, maybe even no…why go in the first place if you aren’t fueled by the passion of the indwelling presence of God?
• A man or a woman that knows everything there is to know about the Bible can make no one saved…all one can do is share the truth. The conversion, the saving, the life entering into a dead spirit is a transaction not between man and man but between God and man…and Paul knew that…  So when they were not willing, he was like, fine…bye Felicia!  And that struck, struck, struck…many!  Paul believed in the power of God and this put on display to those that struggled inwardly all the time with hope, joy, desire, passion, this put on display that Paul didn’t rely or care about his own power or “success.”
• So Crispus believed…the ruler of the synagogue…can you imagine what that cost him? In just a couple of verses we will learn that it cost him everything…a full on life reset…but he realized, his heart, his direction, his entire world view…was all a weight on him and his family…and he transacted with God.  He broke through…even if it cost him everything…he, in this scene and forever, gained everything!